Home grown chickens to eat? (Merged Discussion)

Lotus-eater

moo2moo wrote: »

4 - no matter what you read killing a chicken is not as quick and easy as its made out to be. I lack the strength to kill by neck dislocation an adult bird and I'm not tall enough to kill a turkey using a broomstick. Finally no matter how much flapping you think there will be its like wrestling with a 4 year old mid-temper tantrum.

**Stands back and waits for accusations of cruelty!

I'm suprised you think that, if you do it right, I find it takes very little effort, for the chickens that is, never done a turkey.

Tried chopping off the head before and its much worse than breaking the neck. They do flap a bit though when you break the neck, but these despatchers, as far as I can see, just cut off the head?. Doesn't sound good to me.

I remember many years ago and we got some excess cockerals to raise for meat from the poultry market, they made an awful row and were despached the same night Its the main thing that has stopped us keeping them for meat.

Rabbits are actually much more realistic to keep for meat, imho.

~Chameleon~

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I remember many years ago and we got some excess cockerals to raise for meat from the poultry market, they made an awful row and were despached the same night Its the main thing that has stopped us keeping them for meat.

This will be the deciding factor for me as to whether we raise birds for the table or just keep a few hens for eggs. Are the young cockerels very noisy even before they mature? I really can't see my neighbours being terribly impressed if so, and nor will I be come to that!

Funny you mentioning rabbits, that has also crossed my mind

DKLS

I did a stint on a kibbutz in my youth, and have disturbing memories, off dispatching chooks for a religious festival, the chicken guy, proudly demonstrated that he knew how to remove a chickens head in 50 different ways, I asked him to stop after 3.!! There is a knack to breaking a chickens neck, it can be done humanely if carried out very quickly and efficiently.

Tabby_Kitten_2

rog2 wrote: »

Thanks dND - As with all Government Agency Publications it is definitely not written in terms for the normal layman.
However, it does specify that 'Organic' chickens 'cannot be caged', must have access to open grazing (certain exceptions), maximum hours of 'light', and it also specifies maximum numbers per 'flock'.
So it really isn't quite as simple as 'just feeding chickens with organic food'.

It's really not reader friendly is it. It's good to know though

free-range

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Are you all allowing your chickens to free range in the garden, or have you built special pens for them?

My garden isn't terribly secure so I wouldn't want them wandering off, plus we occasionally get the odd cat wandering by, and one is a big burly tom cat so I want to make sure my chickens would be secure if I'm not out with them.

Been looking at this protection pen so they can have plenty of room outside yet remain safe and secure. What do you guys think? You can also fit polycarb roof panels to it which would also satisfy DEFRA rules for keeping poultry safe from Avian Flu.

Hi, we got 8 'Isa Browns' last summer and having chucks is fab. They lay an egg each every day, and although 7 lay in the nest box 1 prefers to lay hers in the garden so we have a little egg-hunt most days.

The eggs taste like eggs should and our 2 cats ignore them, the 2 dogs think they're interesting and follow them around!

We have had to clip 1 wing of each of them as they are curious little things and decided next doors garden was more interesting than ours... :rotfl:

I can highly recommend having them, they are great fun and ours are now quite tame. We don't have a cockerell, but a house down the road does and he drives us potty - so unless you want noise avoid them!

~Chameleon~

free-range wrote: »

Hi, we got 8 'Isa Browns' last summer and having chucks is fab. They lay an egg each every day, and although 7 lay in the nest box 1 prefers to lay hers in the garden so we have a little egg-hunt most days.

The eggs taste like eggs should and our 2 cats ignore them, the 2 dogs think they're interesting and follow them around!

We have had to clip 1 wing of each of them as they are curious little things and decided next doors garden was more interesting than ours... :rotfl:

I can highly recommend having them, they are great fun and ours are now quite tame. We don't have a cockerell, but a house down the road does and he drives us potty - so unless you want noise avoid them!

I know what you mean! I've kept chickens before (only layers) so I know all about how curious they can get, and also how they can destroy a veggie/flower bed within a matter of hours, hence wanting something very secure to keep them in :rotfl:

I do have quite a large garden but I'm sure they'd still find the neighbours gardens more interesting given half a chance :rolleyes:

I'd like to raise some for meat too this time, but my dilemma at the moment is whether or not young cockerels would be noisy enough to disturb the neighbourhood before it's time to dispatch them (3-4mths) as I'd like to raise them from eggs/young chicks and keep the hens to lay and eat the boys

arkonite_babe

Hi all

There's already a discussion on the green and ethical board about chickens so I'll move this across and add it

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Lifeisbutadream

I hope someone on here can help..

I have been thinking on and off for a while about keeping chickens. We have a large back garden and plenty of room for a hen-house with large run - the garden is enclosed, so they could be pretty free-range a lot of the time also.

Does anyone know of the pros and cons?? I was thinking about getting 3-4 chickens - hopefully they will supply us with enought eggs for us (family of 4)
Are they noisy? are you allowed to keep chickens in your garden? are they friendly?

I would be grateful for any help bfore I make my final decision..:o

arthur_dent_2

I love keeping my own chickens.

Pros:

They are really friendly
Children adore them (if they escape the kids are far better at catching them than me)
Ours (4) lay around 2 eggs a day more than enough for us
They are cheap to feed a bag of grain Complete variety, so no extra needed costs £6.50 and half a bag of corn about £4.00. This has lasted about 4 months for us.
They eat anything vegetarian kitchen waste all goes to feed our ladies
They are not noisy we do have them at the bottom of a large garden but assuming you don't get a cockeral you wont even notice them unless you want to.
They require very little care other than letting out in the morning and putting away at night.
Cleaning out is unpleasant but they hate you doing it so I reccommend that you only do this once every three months anyway. A big bag of sawdust is about a fiver and hay we can get in bales for about the same. This should last a year.

It is so good knowing that the eggs you are eating are fresh and come from your own hens. My children even now 4 months on are obsessed with looking for eggs in the morning.

Cons

They are dirty creatures and the pen will get extremely muddy, mine is like a swamp at the moment

Are you willing to dispose of the birds when they die.

There can be some fighting between the hens but this has never been serious and usually just results in a few lost feathers.

Chickens are great and I would reccomend them to anyone. Oh and we are going on monday to get some more as they are so brilliant.

Cheers, Arthur.

susank

Hi try going to the website https://www.omlet.co.uk
they have loads of support and help and I have ordered 3 blackrock girls to be delivered in March and have bought a second hand eglu for them - easy to clean out